“Most Detailed” Pictures Of Pluto Ever, Not Really All That Detailed
When NASA announced the release of the most detailed pictures of Pluto that have ever been seen, I must admit to having experienced a certain level of excitement. After all, it is not very often that one gets a chance to get a good look at the distant dwarf planet.
The sensation is much like looking upon the mosaic-covered good bits of a Japanese skin flick; you know there is something going on, you just can’t really see it.
Luckily we have NASA to tell us what is going on:
The images taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope show an icy and dark molasses-colored, mottled world that is undergoing seasonal changes in its surface color and brightness. Pluto has become significantly redder, while its illuminated northern hemisphere is getting brighter. These changes are most likely consequences of surface ices sublimating on the sunlit pole and then refreezing on the other pole as the dwarf planet heads into the next phase of its 248-year-long seasonal cycle. The dramatic change in color apparently took place in a two-year period, from 2000 to 2002.
As disappointing in their lack of clarity as these pictures might be to some, they give NASA scientists information that will be useful for planning the course of their New Horizons probe, which is due to fly-by Pluto in 2015, whereupon we should see some really detailed images.
What NASA was working with before.
It is not clear as how I thought it is to be. But neverthenless, it’s my first time looking at a photo of this planet. Thank you for posting them.
It looks like a blue n orange planet from the above photos. Wonder what are those. I mean the blue and orang part of the planet.
- Abang Long
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